Tuesday, September 03, 2013

Is Gluten Damaging your Brain?

Do You Have Any of These Symptoms?

Have you ever gotten one as a result
of gluten contamination or ‘cheating’?

Have you had balance or dizziness problems, sometimes known
as ataxia?

How about numbness, tingling or other sensation type issues?

For you, are any of these known side effects due to gluten
exposure - meaning that you experience them when you come into contact with
gluten?

If you or someone you know falls into this category, whereby
gluten affects you neurologically, read on.

Gluten Can Damage Your Brain

A study out of the Journal
of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry last August 2012 revealed
that a group of celiacs who were referred to see a neurologist, had significant
brain damage.

This group of individuals, average age forty four, when
compared to a control group had significantly greater damage to their brains.
Since the researchers found damage to both the white matter and grey matter, I
thought we should define each.

The white matter makes up about half of the brain and seems
to be involved in connectivity, or uniting various partss of the brain that are
involved in performing mental functions. White matter affects how the brain
learns, even into adulthood.

The grey matter of the brain is made up of nerve cells. The
grey matter includes the parts of the brain involved in muscle control plus
sensory perception such as seeing, hearing, memory, emotions and speech.

One of the researchers, Dr Hadjivassiliou from the
University of Sheffield in the UK, is renowned for his work in the area of
celiac disease and gluten sensitivity.

The goal of the research was to determine the extent of
brain abnormalities in celiac patients.

While it’s certainly not news that gluten can cause brain
and nervous system symptoms, the extent to which this study showed significant
damage to the white matter of the brain is certainly worth sharing with the
general public who suffer from these symptoms, and the neurologists from whom
they seek advice.

The study consisted of 33 diagnosed celiac disease patients, whose
condition was confirmed by biopsy. Each patient was compared to a control group
and differences in brain volume and chemistry were evaluated.

The study revealed that celiac patients had diminished
cerebellum volume (the part of the brain that coordinates and regulates muscle
activity) plus multiple regions of decreased grey matter density.

In the Study, 30% of Celiacs Showed Brain Damage

Thirty six percent of patients showed white matter abnormalities, completely unexpected
for their age group, with the highest incidence in the headache group. They
demonstrated twice the number of white matter abnormalities on MRI as compared
to the other two subgroups.

Celiac patients suffering from balance disturbance were
discovered to have half as many white matter abnormalities as the headache
group, while those with sensory loss revealed about a sixth of the white matter
abnormalities. All groups were markedly more affected than the control group
that was free of celiac disease.

While we have long known of the nervous system irritation
created by gluten, did anyone for an instant consider that their gluten
ingestion could be creating permanent brain damage? That they could be
compromising the size and function of their brain? Not likely. But this study
reveals that such an outcome is indeed possible.

Anyone Suffering from Neurological Symptoms Should be Tested for Gluten

If you or anyone you know suffers from headaches, imbalance
problems, sensory problems or any sort of nervous system imbalance, including
seizures and depression, a thorough work-up for gluten sensitivity is an
excellent idea.

If you are currently the patient of a neurologist, please
share this information with them. Increasing the awareness of your neurologist
on this topic will likely benefit many of his or her patients who are gluten
intolerant and are unaware of it.

Share this with your family doctor who likely treats many,
many patients with complaints of headaches. The likelihood is that a percentage
of them are gluten intolerant and potentially suffering from brain damage as a
result. You would be doing a humanitarian service to enlighten your doctor to
something that he or she has likely not considered.

I hope you found this helpful. Please contact me should you
have any questions or comments. Our destination clinic treats patients from
across the country and internationally. We would be delighted to offer you or
someone you care for a free health analysis – call 408-733-0400.

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Who Are We?

The Gluten Doctors are a group of doctors consisting of MDs, Naturopaths and Certified Clinical Nutritionists.

Two of the doctors, Drs. Rick and Vikki Petersen, authored the bestseller, "The Gluten Effect", a book which exposes the dangers of gluten and provides a path to good health for those with gluten sensitivity.

The Gluten Doctors specialize in the area of digestive problems, especially gluten sensitivity and celiac disease. Their clinic, HealthNOW Medical Center, is located in the heart of Silicon Valley in Sunnyvale, California.